The Astral Gaming Mat is a projected gaming mat with tools for tabletop RPGs.
This help document is a work in progress
The Astral Agming Mat (AGM) is tool for use by tabletop RPG players. It is designed for use with a projector or flat tv and takes the place of a conventional gridded gaming mat, such as a vinyl wet-erase mat of graph paper. Maps can be drawn and edited to represent encounter areas of many different types. Measurement tools built into AGM allow for rapid determination of distances and areas of effect. AGM can also be used to reveal a map slowly as when exploring a dungeon or cavern system.
This video gives a brief overview of the major features.
The Astral Gaming Mat is under active alpha development. Features and interfaces are subject to significant change with each released version.
Use this tool to define the view of your game mats.
| Click Drag | To |
|---|---|
| in the center | move the view |
| along the top | rotate the view |
| along the right | zoom the view |
Additionally, the view can be quickly changed while in any mode with the following keystrokes:
Toggle grid line color by pressing G.
Toggle between hex grid and square grid by pressing Ctrl + G.
Use this mode to paint textures onto the current game mat.
The following textures are paintable.
| Preview | Name | Animated |
|---|---|---|
 | Grass | No |
 | Dirt | No |
 | Stone | No |
 | Cobblestone | No |
 | Water | Yes |
 | Fire | Yes |
 | Sky | Yes |
 | "Magic" | Yes |
Once in painting mode, the radial menu will display these texture allowing you to select your texture quickly using the only the mouse. You can also cycle through the textures quickly by scrolling the mouse wheel.
Each game mat file has 10 different pages you can paint on. You can switch to different pages by typing 0 through 9 on the keyboard.
Doors can be placed on the map while in painting mode. To do so, move the mouse to the location of the door and press the Space Bar. This will cycle through the available doors on the current location. At this time, there are only two door types: Standard and Secret Doors. Doors will block line of sight while in reveal mode until they are "opened" (i.e., the door is clicked on with the mouse). Secret doors will not show on the map in reveal mode until they are discovered (i.e., the door is clicked on with the mouse).
Lights can be placed on a map in similar fashion. To place a light source, move the mouse the desired location and press the L key. This will toggle the presence of a light source at the current location. As this time, lights are fixed at illuminating 40 foot radius.
These functions are experimental and are still being refined. While in paint mode...
Use this tool to measure distances on the map. Click-drag will place a start and stop marker with distance displayed orbiting the ending position. While dragging, Right-click to set a waypoint and continue measurement. Scrolling the mouse wheel will change the color of the measuring line for better visibility.
| Template | Icon | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Radius |  |
click on the map to place a radius area template. Use the mouse wheel to adjust the radius amount. |
| Cone |  |
click-drag on the map to place a cone area template, originating from where the mouse was clicked and pointing in the direction of mouse movement. Use the mouse wheel to adjust the radius amount. There is also and experimental "precise" cone template available by pressing F2. A precise cone is not resticted to aligning with existing grid lines and can be oriented to any angle. |
| Threat |  |
click on the map to place a creature threat template. The red spaces indicate create location, the cycling yellow spaces represent threatened area of the approiate creature. Provided creature sizes are based on the d20 SRD. Creature size can be adjusted using the mouse wheel. Threat range can be adjusted using Ctrl + mouse wheel. Toggle reach on and off by double-clicking. |
Using map reveal mode is simple. Just Click or click-drag on the map to explore. Visibility calculations will be performed and the map will be revealed. At this time, visiblity radius is fixed at 60 feet except in areas directly illumintated by light sources.
Ambient light on the map can be adjusted using the Mouse wheel. If no lights are present on the map, ambient light will always be set to it's maximum value.
Doors block line of sight until they are "opened" by clicking on them. Secret doors will not be shown on the map while in this mode until they have been "found" by clicking on them. Thereafter, they behave like regular doors.
To reset the map back to fully unrevealed, press R again. You will be prompted to confirm this reset.
Entering Map Reveal mode alters the map displayed in other modes as well. The other modes (e.g., painting, measuring, etc) will only show the revealed portion of the map. To show the whole map again, press Esc twice.
The internal web server is enabled or disabled by pressing F4. Port 8888 is used. Connecting to this server shows an image of the current map and allows the remote user to move a red cursor on the map.
| Command | Description | Keyboard Shortcut |
|---|---|---|
| More Menu Options | |
|
| Paint Mode | P |
| Eraser | |
| Return to Main Menu | Esc |
|
| Enter Map Reveal Mode | R
(Twice to reset map) |
|
| View Setup Mode | V |
|
| Measure Mode | M |
|
| Area of Effect Mode - Radius Tool | |
|
| Area of Effect Mode - Cone Tool | |
|
| Area of Effect Mode - Creature Threat Tool | |
| Start New Game Mat | Ctrl-N |
| Open Game Mat File | Ctrl-O |
| Save Game Mat File | Ctrl-S |
| Close Application | Alt-F4 |
| Show Application Information | F1 |
| Toggle Full Screen Mode | F11 |
| Cycle Through Grid Display Options | G |
| Toggle Hex/Square Grid | Ctrl-G |
| Other Commands | ||
| Quick View Panning | H (while held) | |
| Quick View Zooming | Z (while held) | |
| Switch Game Mat Page | 0-9 | |
| Undo Last Paint | Ctrl-Z | |
| Repeat Text Message | Space Bar | |
| Toggle Detailed Textures | F9 | |
| Toggle "Splatting" Render Style | F10 | |
| Toggle Texture Animation | F12 | |
| Experimental Commands for Paint Mode | ||
| Generate Dungeon | D | |
| Generate Caves | C | |
| Generate "Random Walk" | W | |
| Set Door | Space Bar | |
| Set Light Source | L | |
| Experimental Commands for Area Mode | ||
| Use Precise Cones | F2 | |
| Other Experimental Commands | ||
| Enable/Disable Web Server | F4 | |
| Show/Hide Green Cursor | F5 | |
| Show/Hide Red Cursor | F6 | |